Building Wooden Foot Bridges

The cheap Ingredients

While preparing our Attack on the Lorient Dockyards 1942 board, we needed some bridges to get from the walls to the submarine. Like most terrain we build, we want it to be useful for multiple boards and scenarios. And we wanted it to easy to make and inexpensive, yet look good.
So we started with the basic ingredients:

• Pop Rivets 35mm long.
• Icy Pole sticks/Coffee stirrers
• Cheap wool
• Super Glue
• PVA Glue

Using the clippers trim the rounded edges of the wooden sticks.

Completed but unpainted

Then using some shorter pieces as supports make your bridge. You can be rough or neat depending on the look you want. At this point all you are using is the wooden stocks and PVA glue.
Now we want our rails. Drill holes near the edge and at roughly 1 inch intervals. Then poke the pop rivets in so they stick through about 1 cm or half an inch. Use superglue to keep them in position.
Once dry use the wool to create the rope railing, wrapping it around each pop rivet, move it down over the edge and then around the base of each pop rivet. This is to give the bridge lots of strength, and it looks good too.
Then paint the wool with PVA glue.  This strengthens the wool, sticks down the fibres and makes it all very strong.
Lastly, you need to trim down the pop rivets at the end of the bridge.  Either use tough pliers or grind them down - or get some shorter pop rivets for the end poles!

Painted and beautiful

This step is important to allow the bridge to rest on the edge of whatever you are placing it against.  The longer poles in the middle keep it stable.
Then paint it brown with black wash and finally paint it with some satin varnish (we buys ours in a 500ml tin from the paint store).
It turns out pretty well and will work for any setting from modern to ancient where the construction would have been done using basic wood and rope materials.

This isn't going to end well...

Lastly, you can see how we have used it in our dockyards game. We have placed a bridge from each of the Heights Project bridge ends. They make it perfectly across to the sub to provide for a great cinematic charge or two.

Lastly we had a bit of fun with our Gandalf figure and the phrase so many keep repeating, "None Shall Pass".
We couldn't avoid the pun.

This is what bridges are for.

How to run a Bolt Action Boot Camp Public Participation Game

We enjoy playing Bolt Action wargames and want to share that fun with others.
So how does one do this?
Running a Public Participation game is different to running a game with your friends.  You will be playing with someone who has never played this game or maybe even any wargame before, has no figures or equipment and may not have even seen wargaming before.  Also, today's potential gamer has probably played computer wargames and may not realise the benefits of a figure based wargame verses the instant gratification of a computer based game.
I will be structuring this article into a number of sections to explain the why and how and various situations you need to consider.

Why even bother running a public participation game?

Looking at all the work involved in preparing a game for strangers you may be asking yourself, "Why bother?"  Here are some good reasons:

This board is just asking for players to join in

• A fixed date gives you a target for which to aim.  Rather than a more flexible timetable where procrastination can take hold, planning a public participation event means you need to be ready by the advertised date. 
• New players mean new gaming friends.  Often we fall into complacency and have a nice little group of gaming friends.  Then over time some move away or their situations change and suddenly you find it is just the two of you. This happens to all groups, so you need to actively look outwards to keep your group active.  Also, new players bring new ideas and fresh challenges. Everyone plays with different styles so more players mean more interesting games.
• When playing in your own group, sometimes you can fall into doing the same thing and not try to expand what you are doing.  With a public mindset, you now enjoy the challenge of doing different types of games.  We have created a huge 8 x 4 city board for example. This is way more than a small group would normally do, but when you want to garner interest from passers-by you need something special.  So by reaching out to others you have done yourself a favour too.
• Often sharing the game with new players and sharing their enjoyment can increase your enjoyment of the game as well.  We get a great kick out of seeing the brightness in the eyes of new players as their imaginations are engaged.
• You learn new aspects of the game with a wider variety of opponents.

These reasons all apply even if the new players you create do not join your group but play elsewhere.

How do you go about organising a public participation game?

Venue:

Once you have decided to run a game for the public, you first need to find a venue.  This may be at your local games store, or a local games convention.  When I was running a gaming club we even ran demonstration games at school fetes, libraries and shopping centres.  The aim is to have a place where people can see what wargaming is and be drawn in by the action on and around the table. At a games convention, the area near the traders and canteen is the premium placement.  This helps both the traders and the canteen with extra customers and provides a lot of excitement and action for visitors.  It is also the place all visitors go and gives them something to do besides just looking and moving on.

Players:
You need to have enough of your own people involved to fulfil the following roles:

General/Organiser: This person liaises with the venue, gathers new players from the crowd, answers queries from potential players, parents and spectators. It is important you have one person doing this role as they look outwards, towards the people milling around.
Sergeants/Minions: At least one of your people should act as a guide for at most two new players.  This ensures adequate attention is given to the new players demonstrating how the game works.  They need to be able to concentrate on their part of the game without worrying about the outer area.
Uniform: Try to have consistency in what everyone is wearing. We have each person wearing the same colour T-shirt each day.  A different one each day as that smells much better! Also, name badges are great.  In this way it is obvious who is running the game so spectators and players are encouraged to ask the correct person questions about what is happening.

Table and Game Accessories:

The table you use has to serve a number of functions.  You need to consider the following factors:

• Aesthetics:  It has to look good so anyone walking past is tempted to stop and have a closer look.  Then you need a number of "eye candy" pieces which make the onlooker examine the board even more closely.  On our boards you can find the TARDIS, various civilians, Winnie the Pooh, a soldier down a well, toilet paper and magazines in the outhouse and so on. All add extra interest to the table.
• Balance: The board has to provide a balanced battle.  The objective must be central and various terrain elements must be balanced.  It shouldn't be a mirror image, but it should be carefully planned so it isn't one sided.
• Size: A larger board that allows 4 to 6 players is best.  Smaller boards lose some of the attractiveness and too large a board makes any game too hard to guide.
• Toughness: The buildings and terrain have to be tough enough to be used by players and transported.  If it is too fragile to be touched don't use it.  One of the great benefits of miniature wargaming is its tactile nature.  You can move men and tanks, poke into buildings and around trees, use a periscope to get your men's eye view and feel the roll of the dice.  Don't forget to bring glue for on the spot repairs.
• No table clutter: No drinks or food should be left on the table. It detracts from the table and it must always be easy for people to take photos of your game. A half empty can of drink or a food wrapper really brings the photos down.
• Extra Bits: Don't forget plenty of tape measures and dice. Also, periscopes and laser pointers make for very cool gaming aids to help with both line of sight queries and also to give players and spectators a great figure's eye view of the battlefield.
  
• Ready References: You do not want to be flipping through a massive rule book.  This just discourages new players. We have the great Bolt Action Ready Reference sheet which contains most of the rules and then a special army sheet (as shown here --->). This has the army details on the front and the statistics for each of the weapons on the back.  So a player just needs his army sheet and ready reference and he has everything he needs to play.  We added a photo of the HQ squad on each sheet so the player knew which army was his.
• Pins and markers: The last bit you need are appropriate pin markers (we use red plastic tokens) and appropriate explosion and artillery markers so everyone knows where damage has happened or will happen.  We also have a flag on each objective which changes to the appropriate army when the objective is controlled.  It is fun to see the flag going from "Contested" to "Army A", then "Army B" and back to "Contested".
• Players Essential Tin: We created a tin containing all the order dice, other dice, dice bag and 2 army trays.  This kept all the bits together.  Each tray holds 600 points pretty well.  The Army Cards were placed at the back of the tray and each army was put on show for players and spectators to examine.

Models:
The actual models used in the game are extremely important.

• Painting: They need to be well painted to a good "tabletop" standard.  You don't need to paint the eyes and go into minute detail.  That is for your own special guys.  But you want the troops to look good. Remember the motto: "Painted men fight better".  
• The Right Stuff: You want balanced forces. There is no point bringing an overpowered unit to the game as this may win the game for one player but you want both players to enjoy the game.  Just to play is to win. We organise for a force of 600 points.  This is about 6 to 8 order dice per player which means a game should be over in 2 to 2.5 hours with 4 to 6 players.
• Bases: On the base of each figure we note down if the figure is special.  For example, we note LMG, NCO, SMG, Sniper, HQ, etc.  This is to help everyone know which guy is the special one.  It takes time to know which man has the sub machine gun, assault rifle or light machine gun.
  

Gameplay:
Now everything is ready, the game has to be fun to play.  That is why we use Bolt Action.  The dice mechanic of play ensures that each player is involved every step of the way.  It is not an "I Go You Go" system.  Every pull of the dice will impact on both players as either activator or receiver.

• Scenario: We have a very simple scenario - Capture the Objective.  The objective is always outside of buildings and in the centre between the two players.  To control an objective the player must have at least 3 men of the same unit within 3 inches of the objective.  If a unit is reduced to less than 3 men it cannot control it and another unit of 3 man can take over control of the flag.  If no-one gets close enough to change the ownership, the objective remains in the hands of the person who last had control.  If both players have at least 3 men within 3 inches it is contested. Easy.
• Teams: Each side of the table belongs to the same team.  We ensure that it is always Axis vs Allied. Also, each objective is fought over by two players who share the same dice bag.  So each pair of players has a dice bag and each pair go through their order dice until the bag is empty.  When all player pairs are complete, the turn then ends and the new one begins.  Players can fire and move across the table which adds some uncertainty and excitement as shots come from less expected quarters! 
• Action: The Sergeant controlling the player pair keeps the game moving.  He may be pulling the dice or he may encourage the players to do so.  Either way he gets the players to keep moving.
• Options: The Sergeant's job is to provide the players with the options, but defer decisions to the player. This is difficult when the game moves on as experienced players can see so many more options than beginners. But the aim is have the player take ownership of his forces.  Also, if the player rolls well or badly he can take all the blame!

The end:
The nature of all the above factors will lead to a scramble at the end for one or more of the objectives in 90% of the games.  Voices are raised in excitement and pulses are elevated as many last minute plans are made and scuttled with the grace of the dice gods. Then there is the chance for a turn 7 which may change the final result again.
Then there is the all important Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda review.  "If only..." and "It was lucky that... " and so on are important end of game traditions.

How do you know if it was a success?

We have a number of measures of success including:

• Number of participants
• Great memories
• New scenery and figures we now have made which probably would still be in the "to do" pile
• Enjoyable games

In fact, the last point is really the most important. Whether we are playing or guiding, Bolt Action games are very enjoyable in which to participate. The quality of terrain and figures combined with the fluidity of the rules combines to make a very cinematic experience.
We highly recommend you try some public participation games.
Everyone wins.

Speed Painting so you can play sooner

The best way to start - at the beginning

The first squad finished.

My 7 year old son was very excited to be given a box of US Marines and a Sherman tank for his birthday. Our first task was building the men.  The figures all start on a sprue with 6 bodies and lots of options for arms, heads and equipment.  With a clipper, knife, plastic glue and some imagination it isn't too hard to create a wide variety of figures.  The liquid plastic glue is better than super glue as it actually melts the parts together and you have time to move the bits into position.  Also, your fingers won't glue together!
An important part of building your first box of men is work out the forces you wish to assemble.
We wanted a 600 point army which had enough units and used the Sherman.  Because tanks are cool according to my son.

HQ - 2nd Lieutenant with 2 henchman/assistants (70 pts)
3 x Regular Marines - NCO with SMG, BAR and 6 Riflemen (88 pts each)
1 x Regular Medic (23 pts)
1 x Regular Sniper team (52 pts)
1 x Sherman M4A1 (195 pts)
Total 604 pts (7 order dice)

But - making the models is one thing.  We can't fight properly until they are painted.

The 15 year old brother is painting like an artist, but we wanted to get the army on the table quicker than that. We didn't want to do the multi layers and tons of colours.  That is too much work and I wanted to be able to paint the whole lot in one day. Here are all the colours we used.  And the red and white were only used for the medic's cross.

You don't need many colours

Step 1 was to spray the lot using an appropriate base coat.  This is the easiest way to start the whole army off.  We used Plastic Soldier Russian Uniform. The colour looked about right and once they are finished you will see it worked out fine.

Painting the tank tracks black.

We then started painting the colour on every man.  The first colour was black for the boots.
Then brown for the things that cover the top of the boots.
Then skin colour for each fellow.

Coming together.

Then we painted all the smooth helmets a lighter brown and painted dots of dark brown.  A simple camouflage style job.

The helmets are looking good.

Next is brown and gun metal on the guns.  A darker green for the straps and a variety of browns and greens for the equipment, back packs and so on. So far the result wasn't too bad. Then a quick round of touching up painting mistakes and ensuring everyone has all the bits covered and we're on the homeward road.

Not bad for a few hours work.

The last couple of steps are really easy but make a huge difference.  We applied Quick Wash Strong Tone.  That is basically a dark brown paint thinned out so much that it darkens the model and leaves highlights in all the cracks.

There. Dirty.  Happy now?

The last step which finishes off the guys is to put something on the base.  For the marines we wanted a beach base so stole from sand from the kids sand pit.

PVA glue applied.

Some PVA glue painted on the base and then dipped in the sand does the trick.  The sand covers up any missed painting on the base.  Then run your finger around the edge to keep the base edges smooth.  It looks better that way.

Get me out of this sand trap!

There you go.  We painted 32 figures and a tank in around 5 hours.  This is about the same time my 15 year old son paints 5 figures. (But his figures do look amazing!)

Right. When do we fight?

This is a great way to get your army up and running.  Painted figures fight better - even if your dice don't co-operate at least you care about them more. And they make the game look cool, which is a very important part of any wargame.

The City Heights Project

The start of a new level

I have had the pleasure of seeing many great boards at the Hall of Heroes and other places which enable a board with varying levels. It is an added challenge to consider fighting up ramps, down from upper stories, across and along trenches.  However, this normally comes with boards that are fixed, having been custom built with the underlying terrain in place.
We wanted to have a multi level board which is flexible and transportable.  Living in the country, our demo game events will always be elsewhere, which means we have to transport our men and scenery in the car and our home is a busy place which means we have to store everything away.
Our solution?  Make a multi level board with sections.
Start with a large block of Polystyrene Foam.  100mm (4in) x 600mm (24 in) x 1200mm (48in) cost $47.85 each from Clarke Rubber.  Laid flat, this gives us an upper level of 4 inches high.  To strengthen and protect the sheets we painted them with a grey paint.
The next challenge was to make a way to get from the lower level to the higher levels.  This could be by stairs or a roadway or a bridge.  Also, we needed an edge to the upper level with a wall to fire over.

A basic 6in (15cm) section

I decided to make sections in 6 inch widths.  This mean for a 4ft wide table, we could mix and match a number of elements nicely.
Start with solid insulation foam (we obtained ours from Austech, although we picked it up in person).  25mm (1in) thick probably allows for the most options in building.  The edges of the foam are cut so they can be joined together when laying them as insulation.  This worked out to be the perfect wall height and thickness.
Using my less than precise modelling skills, I cut the foam so it levelled up with the 100mm white foam edges.  Then I cut a similar width piece for the ground level.

Stairs are for running up and down.

This was glued to a 6in square piece of MDF to provide durability and a standard size.  PVA glue is fine to put it all together.  Craft glue is great for creating moon or shell craters, but not much good at actually keeping two bits attached!
To create a simple stairway, I cut an appropriate sized bit of foam and hacked some stairs out.  At the top of each stair I glued some craft sticks.  Initially I was going to use the craft stick for the edge but it looked poor.  So I used Foam Core card and made an appropriate edge and railing.
In this stairwell, I thought it would be nifty having an opening under the stairs for a store room of sorts.  So I cut in the opening and stairs and added a spare door from one of our 4Ground buildings.
Then we got more creative.

Should I go Left or right?

A stair with two exits and a little seat. Options for chappies to get down with varying types of cover and a little style. Once more the same combination of insulation foam, foam core and craft sticks all stuck together with PVA.
I then painted the whole thing completely.  When painting scenery we just get sample pots from the paint or hardware store.  In Australia Haymes sample pots are great quality and good value: 500ml for about $8.55.  You can get them in any colour and they cover all sorts of material - wood, MDF, cardboard and foam.
Once painted, I went the lazy man route and applied printed stonework, the same way we did for the cobblestone roads.

Brick and stonework - looking fine.

Pasting on the brickwork covered up most of my hackwork and gave me a fine finish.  I used brick work for the walls, and stone work (as I used for the cobblestone pavements) for the ground and steps.  I also used the stones for the railings and wall capping. (We used the High Ground Tiles Kit from Dave Graffam models - only $3.95)
As you can see from the photos, the less than precise cutting of the foam meant there are some gaps between pieces.  But I am not overly concerned.  The end result is still quite satisfactory.
The next challenge was to provide a way for vehicles to move between levels.
One of the large white poly sheets we cut in two.  This meant 2 x 2ft squares.  On the edge of one we cut a slope one inch up (to match the edge of the insulation foam) and back 18 inches. This gave us a suitable slope.

The end of the road.

Warning!  Do this outside as you will get white foam dust everywhere!
I made sure that this was solid as I could still place this square upside down and have a normal edge too, allowing me to have a road or not depending on the board requirements.
The road edge was more insulation foam cut accordingly, painted and then brick and stone work added.
The only thing remaining is to make some walls bordering the ramp using thick cardboard and more brick and stone paper.
The end result looks pretty cool.

More corners to hide around

The road fits our cobblestone sections nicely and we have flexible levels.
I am sure if you adopted a more careful approach and cut each piece of foam accurately they would fit together much better.  However the concept works great with relatively little effort to get great results.

Lots of places to take cover.

4 foot of heightened goodness.

The Town Fountain

A Rolling Stone?

A nice town needs an impressive fountain.
I wanted a round fountain but wasn't sure what would work well until I saw my daughter unwrapping a ribbon from a spool. Combined with the stones we used making our stone walls, and the printed cobblestone streets and we had a plan.

Start with the ribbon spool and cut the top part to get an outer rim.  Use plenty of PVA glue in the edges of the wheel and roll it in a bowl full of the small stones we used for the walls.  You will have to do this over a while as each part dries, otherwise the top falls away as it rolls.  Frustrating.
Then just let it dry.  Add more stone individually into any gaps that are created and you effectively get a round stone wall for the fountain base.

A Roman gets a more modern use

We then used a spool from an EFT/Credit card thermal paper roll for the column.  Thin cardboard provided for some stone paving around the base.
A couple of tiddly winks/plastic circles were used for the base and top of the column.
A suitable Roman Soldier was volunteered to guard a new position.  The heads from which we would have water pouring out were spares from our Warlord Games plastic British infantry. Just trim the necks so they are at roughly the right angle on the column.
While that was drying we undercoated the cardboard with grey paint.

Base coated with a few coins thrown in

We then glued the column into the middle.  As we were going to put in "Realistic Water" we painted the whole inside of the fountain with PVA glue to provide a seal.  Then we threw in some gold and silver glitter to represent coins. The cardboard on top of the fountain we painted with textured paint and then dark washed it to provide a stone look.  Once more, we waited for everything to dry well.

A base made from MDF

We then cut some 3mm MDF to an appropriate square size and rounded the edges.  We printed some cobblestone pattern and glued it around the corners.  Then we painted it with clear Satin varnish for durability and strength and it just looks better.  The fountain was then ready to be glued to the base.

Just add water

We poured in some of the "Realistic Water" we used in Private Timmy's Well and the Pegasus Bridge Pond. (Go to the Pond link to see more about this water product)
We then left this to dry for a few days. Some clear plastic thread was glued to the mouths of the heads and into the water using some craft glue.  When this dried we added more realistic water.

I'll just pop in here for some "medicinal remedy".

The final touches were some water feature stuff which dries clear painted on the clear thread to look like running water, a few weeds and dirt and black wash and the final step - a duck hiding between the legs of the Roman Guard.
Now we have a fountain worth fighting over.  Even if it just for the loose change!

Great Modelling how to articles

The Architects of War have an excellent page detailing a number of modelling tips and techniques.

I especially found the following VERY useful:

About Big Trees - This helped me a lot in understanding trees and modelling scales.

Making Roads - an easy way to build roads using shingles.  More non Australian centric as it is not so easy to get shingles here, but the concept is certainly helpful.

Enjoy.

The Easy Path to Cobblestone Roads

It all starts with 3mm MDF

Back in October we posted a short item explaining roughly how we made cobblestone roads.
We discovered Dave Graffam Models' selection of paper scenery, available from The Wargame Vault.  At $2.95 (USD) this is a very good price for the designs.  The kit is in the form of a PDF and uses Layers to have varying road and sidewalks (footpaths).  Mac users will need to download Adobe PDF Reader to see and select the various layers.
At Cancon we saw one of the players had used the method we explained and did it even better.  So learning from experience, here is a more detailed guide on how to make easy cobblestone roads.

It all starts with a sheet of 3mm MDF.  We cut this into 15cm (6 inch) squares.

Some glue and the printed out roads.

The aim here is to print out the roads you want from the PDF and glue them to the MDF squares.
Using Adobe PDF reader, view Layers and you will be able to choose from a variety of road and pavement/side walk options.  You can also print sheets of the same type which can be used for a plaza or to cut smaller for lanes and alleys.
If you print out the PDF section without any resizing, it will be slightly larger than 15cm/6" which is fine.
We will be making the sheet slightly 3D by making the sidewalks separately and gluing them to the base later.
For glue we used Spray Adhesive which made the job a bit easier. When we ran out, we used PVA glue and a paintbrush to do the same job.
In the picture here we have a straight road section, a street cross roads and a full pavement section for use as a plaza, and to create the side walks.

Apply glue to the back of the section

If you use Spray Adhesive definitely do it outside.  We used a cardboard box to reduce the spray's spread to everything else.  The fumes are not good inside.  Otherwise just use PVA glue.

Place the MDF square in the centre

Place the MDF square in the centre of the glued section.  This should leave a small gap around each edge.

Trim the excess

Trim the excess from each edge.  The easiest way is to use a roller blade enjoyed by Quilters.  Then you can use the edge of the MDF sheet as a guide and make beautiful straight cuts. But don't use your resident quilter's good cutter.  You will get in trouble.  Buy your own, or just use her old one.

Cut a strip to use for pavements

To make the pavements/sidewalks we used some framing matt board/thick cardboard.  Matt board is great as you can normally get offcuts for free if you are nice to the people at your local framing shop.  What is rubbish for them is useful for you.  We cut strips 30mm (1 1/4") wide.  This fits a 25mm (1") base well.

Now cut them long enough for the MDF squares

Now just cut these strips so they are the same length as the MDF squares.  Use the MDF squares as your guide rather than a ruler.  We first tried measuring 15cm, but forgot about the saw blade width, so each square was the blade width less than 15cm (6").

Glue the pavement to the strip

Each square from the PDF is divided into 6 x 6 smaller squares.  We printed a number of squares with pavement only and trimmed them to 1.5 smaller square's width.  This allowed us to glue these strips and wrap them around the strips.  Now the pavement has the edges look like stonework too.

Glue the pavement to the square

The Pavement is now glued to the square with PVA glue.  The same method applies for whatever size or shape pavement you are doing.  Just glue a piece of pavement slightly larger than the cardboard and wrap it around.

Once dry apply clear varnish

Once the glue has dried properly, paint on some Satin clear varnish.  The Satin gives a slight shine without being over the top, brings out the colour and makes it more war-games strength.  Use a wider brush as it is quicker and you will have less stroke lines.

An afternoon's work

In an afternoon we were able to complete 24 sections, plus about 20 skinnier sections for use as alleys and lanes.  These alleys were made by having skinnier pieces of MDF (the side bits that we couldn't get to 15cm) and then covered them with pavement too.  Some were covered with cobblestones and others pavements so we could have different types of walkways.

Look both ways before you cross

Here is the effect on the tabletop.  Wargaming strength cobblestones, very cost effective and they look good too!

Use them as a base for other scenery too.

Enjoy.